As the internet has become increasingly more popular, there has been a corresponding increase in the amount of personal identifying information (PII) that may be stored or displayed online, such as associated with user accounts. The more personal identifying information available online the higher the risk of misuse of that information such as through identity theft, interference with privacy, threats to safety, and so forth.
Users commonly think about third party security breaches such as release of credit card information as the prevalent manner in which bad actors may obtain PII. However, users may unwittingly or inadvertently expose themselves to risk everyday in ordinary interactions online such as e-mail, instant messaging, chats, social networking, postings and dealings with web sites or web services. Through these interactions, for instance, users may upload content which includes PII such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, social security numbers and so forth. Additionally, users may not appreciate the risk of these everyday releases of PII and may not be able to make informed decisions as to whether they should provide PII to various recipients or post it publicly on their websites.